Maria Tallchief Research Paper

Maria Tallchief (1925-2013)
Maria Tallchief was considered America's first major prima ballerina, and was the first Native American to hold the rank. Maria was a member of the Osage Nation, Tallchief’s full name is Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief, but she was also known as “Betty”. Her parents were Alexander Joseph Tallchief and Ruth Porter, of Scottish-Irish descent. Tallchief had five siblings, three were from her father’s first marriage.
Tallchief’s mother Ruth had dreamed about becoming a performer, but her family could not afford dance lessons or music lessons. So she decided she was going to have Maria perform, Porter did not want her daughter to suffer the same fate. Almost from birth, Maria was involved with dancing, she started her first lesson at the age of three. Maria was enrolled in summer ballet classes in Colorado Springs. In 19930, Mrs. Sabin, a ballet teacher from Tulsa, visited Fairfox looking for students and took Maria and Marjorie.

When she was eight her and her family moved to Los Angeles, California, Fairfax, Oklahoma, was where they used to live before moving.

They moved to Los Angeles because they wanted to advance the careers of her and her younger sister, Marjoie. In search of a spot with a major ballet company, Maria moved to New York City at the age of 17. Tallchief spent the next five years with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met her legendary choreographer, George Balanchie. Balanchie co-founded what would become the New York City Ballet in 1946, Maria became the company’s first star. Maria was just five years old when she started school, she was fair too young to start dancing on pointe without injury. At age 12, Tallchief began to work with Bronislava Nijinska, a renowned choreographer who had recently opened her own studio in Los Angeles, and David Lichine, a choreographer and former

dancerury.

Her role in the 1949 role in The Firebird catapulted Tallchief’s to the top of the ballet world, establishing her as a prima ballerina. The Nutcracker transformed the ballet from obscure to America’s most popular, when she played the Sugarplum Fairy. Tallchief travel the world, becoming the first American to perform in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. She was always appearing on American Television before retiring in 1966. After retirement, Maria was acting in promoting ballet in Chicago.
Maria was honored by her people in Oklahoma with multiple statues and an honorific day. Inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame, she received a National Medal of Arts. For lifetime achievements, Tallchief received a Kennedy Center Honor. Her life has been a subject of many documentaries and biographies.
In December 2012, Tallchief broke her hip, she later died on April 11, 2013, from complications stemming from injury. Tallchief was called “one of the most brilliant American ballerinas of the 20th century”, by the New York Times.